The invention relates to chemical microreactors which can be used in the chemical industry amongst other things for synthesizing processes, to methods for their manufacture and to a preferred use of the microreactors.
There have been reports for a number of years in the literature relating to chemical micro reactors which have advantages in comparison with previous production systems for manufacturing chemical compounds. With the conversion of chemical methods into a large industrial production scale there is the basic problem that the dimensions of the production systems are larger by several orders of magnitude than the apparatus used on a laboratory scale for developing the processes. If for example a chemical synthesis is considered, then the relevant scale of size of the chemical species reacting with one another is determined by their molecular size, which generally is in the range of below one nanometer up to a few nanometers. For diffusion and heat transfer phenomena lengths of a few millimeters down to the micrometer range are relevant. Due to the production volumes required in large-scale industry, chemical reactors usually have dimensions which lie in the range between a few centimeters up to several meters. Therefore at least for homogeneous chemical reactions the experience gained on a laboratory scale with reaction volumes of a few liters up to about 100 liters relating to the process management, cannot be directly adopted on an industrial scale. Already with mixing liquids, a stirring mechanism is primarily necessary in order to increase the transport of materials in such a way that the distances between areas of differing concentration are reduced. The so-called scale-up problem also arises from the various dimensions of the reactor. A chemical reaction which has been optimised on the laboratory scale thereafter cannot immediately be transferred to the production system, but must be firstly transferred to a pilot system of dimensions between the laboratory and production scales (technical college scale), before it is finally used in industrial production. A problem is that each stage of this process development requires its own cycle of optimization, each of these cycles being additively involved in the development time required for introduction of the process. In heterogeneous catalysis on the other hand, the catalyst particles are often applied to porous carriers, whose pore size lies in the range of order of magnitude (millimeter to micrometer range) relevant for the transport of materials.
When the process control is not at its optimum and based purely on knowledge from the laboratory scale, for example the yield of the chemical synthesis can be too small, as excessively large proportions of undesired secondary products are formed due to secondary reactions which are preferably taking place.
In order to solve the above problems in transferring a process from the laboratory scale to the production scale, the concept of so-called microreactors was developed a few years ago. This involves a parallel arrangement of a plurality of reaction cells, whose dimensions extend from a few micrometers up to a few millimeters. These reaction cells are formed such that therein physical, chemical or electrochemical reactions can take place. In contrast to a conventional porous system (heterogeneous catalysis), the dimensions of the cells in a microreactor are defined, i.e. produced according to plan in accordance with a technical process. Even the arragement of the individual reaction cells in the ensemble of the reactor is likewise ordered, in particular periodically in one or two dimensions. The necessary feed (inlet) and return (outlet) structures for the fluids (liquids and gases), and sensors and actors, for example valves, cooling and heating members, which influence or monitor the flow of material and heat in the individual cells also belong to the reactors in the extended sense.
One individual reactor cell has a lateral extension which lies in an order of magnitude favourable for optimum transport of material and heat. As the volume flow through one individual reactor cell is extremely small, the entire reactor is enlarged (scale-out) by parallel multiplication of these elementary cells to the industrially necessary size. Due to the small dimensions, local differences of concentration and temperature in the fluid flows are reduced to a minimum. Thus, the processes may be much more accurately adjusted to the optimum reaction conditions, so that the conversion rates in a chemical reaction can be increased for an identical duration time of the reaction medium in the reactor. In addition, the purity and yield of the synthesized materials can be optimized by setting the approximately most favourable reaction conditions. In this way such chemical reactions can also be realized, which were not manageable in the previous way, such as intermediate products by trapping in a controlled manner.
There are a series of proposals for manufacturing the chemical microreactors.
On the one hand a microreactor can be produced for example by stacking a plurality of copper foils, in which grooves are machined by means of a diamond tool in order to form flow ducts. Such a microreactor which is used for partial oxidation of propene to form acrolein is described by D. Hxc3x6nicke and G. Wiesmeier in the article xe2x80x9cHeterogeneous Catalyzed Reactions in a Microreactorxe2x80x9d in DECHEMA Monographs, Volume 132, Papers of the Workshop on Microsystem Technology, Mainz, 20 to 21, February 1995, pages 93 to 107. The individual reactor layers are connected together by diffusion bonding and subsequent electron beam welding. For carrying out the chemical reaction it was necessary for the copper inside the originating ducts to be converted into red copper oxide by partial oxidation.
For a precise and reproducible manufacture of the fine structures, a micro-positioning table suitable for such purposes is required. Basically the individual reaction cells are produced serially and thus in a time- and-cost-intensive way.
By means of the LIGA process (Lithographie, Galvano-Formung, Abformung=lithographie, electroforming, shaping), a plastic layer, usually polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is exposed by means of synchrotron radiation and is subsequently developed. The structure produced in this way is electrolytically filled up with a metal. Then the metal structure can be again duplicated in further process steps by means of a plastic replication. Such a method is described by W. Ehrfeld and H. Lehr in Radiat. Phys. Chem., Volume 45 (1995), pages 349 to 365, and W. Menz in Spektrum der Wissenschaft, February 1994, pages 92 to 99 and W. Menz in Automatisierungstechnische Praxis, Volume 37, (1995), pages 12 to 22. According to the details in the scientific paper in Spektrum der Wissenschaft loc. cit., individual components or subsystems, which are produced separately, are connected together by suitable jointing techniques.
A technique related to the LIGA process, which operates without the extremely expensive synchrotron radiation, is the so-called laser-LIGA method. In this case the plastic layer of PMMA is structured by a powerful UV laser and then electrolytically duplicated as in the LIGA process (W. Ehrfeld et al., xe2x80x9cPotentials and Realization of Microreactorsxe2x80x9d in DECHEMA Monographs, Volume 132, pages 1 to 29).
W. Menz in Automatisierungstechnische Praxis, loc. cit. also proposes a modified method according to which a microelectronic circuit has been formed on a silicon substrate in a previously known way, firstly a protective layer, thereupon an entire-surface metallizing layer and thereon a plastic moulding compound are depoisited. Then, by means of a metal matrix which has been produced according to the LIGA process, the image of the fluid duct structures is impressed into the moulding compound. Thereafter the residual layers of the moulding compound covering the metal layer in the recesses formed are removed by plasma etching, and metal is deposited electrochemically in the recesses. The plastic structures are then removed and the exposed metal areas of the basic metallisation are removed by etching.
Both the previous LIGA process and the laser-LIGA process are extremely expensive, as they require very expensive devices for structuring the plastic layer (synchrotron radiation source).
From the previously mentioned scientific paper by W. Ehrfeld et al., xe2x80x9cPotentials and Realization of Microreactorsxe2x80x9d, there is also known a method of manufacturing chemical microreactors in which a photosensitive glass, for example FOTURAN(copyright) (Schott Glaswerke, Mainz) is used. For this purpose an image of the structure to be produced is transferred by UV light on to the glass member. By means of a subsequent heat treatment only the exposed areas in the glass crystallize. Thereafter, these can be preferably etched away in a hydrofluoric acid solution. This method has the advantage that the reaction ducts can be rapidly reproduced due to the parallel light exposure and the etching process. However, only certain glasses can be used, so that this manufacturing method on the one hand is expensive and on the other hand is particularly restricted to only a few cases of application.
Also the methods, which have been developed in the semiconductor industry for structuring silicon surfaces, have been taken over for manufacturing microreactors. For example, a method has been described by J. J. Lerou et al. in the scientific paper xe2x80x9cMicrofabricated Minichemical Systems: Technical Feasibilityxe2x80x9d, DECHEMA Monographs, Volume 132, pages 51 to 69, in which three etched silicon wafers and two end wafers at the outer sides are connected together. Further, a heat exchanger filled with polycrystalline silver particles, which was likewise designed as a microreactor, was used. Also this method may only be used to a restricted degree, as only silicon can be used.
A method of manufacturing plate heat exchangers is described in EP 0 212 878 A1. According to this, the duct structures required for the heat exchanger are formed by means of a mask (screen printing, photo printing) on plates of steel, stainless steel, brass, copper, bronze or aluminium, and the ducts themselves are produced in the surface areas not covered by the mask by a chemical etching process. Afterwards a plurality of these plates are connected together in a diffusion bonding process. Such a heat exchanger, formed from plates welded together by diffusion bonding, is also disclosed in EP 0 292 245 A1.
The previously known methods for manufacturing microreactors therefore have many disadvantages, among which is the fact that structured metal surfaces can only be produced in the reactor, by means of a time-intensive and/or cost-intensive method or glass and silicon, respectively can exclusively be used, which are not well suited for specific applications.
The reactors according to EP 0 212 245 A1 and EP 0 292 245 A1 have the further disadvantage that with the configuration shown, only heat exchangers can be manufactured, so that many possible applications for chemical microreactors cannot be considered at all. In particular, complex reactors which have in addition to this ducts also electronic semiconductor circuits, fiber optic wave guides and other elements such as actors and sensors cannot be produced by this method.
Hence, the object of the present invention is to manufacture chemical microreactors which are suitable for a plurality of different applications and which are equipped with different and possibly complex elements such as electronic switching circuits, optic fibre wave guides, actors and sensors as well as catalytic corrosion-protective layers and other functional layers in the ducts. Further the manufacturing process is intended to be cost-effective and capable of being rapidly carried out. In particular, it is also intended to be possible to produce such microreactors in large numbers.
The problem is solved by the methods according to the claims 1 to 3 and by the chemical microreactor according to claim 16.
For solving the problem three manufracturing methods to manufacture chemical microreactors,have been founded which comprise at least one substrate with fluid ducts and feed (inlet) and return (outlet) lines for fluids (gas, liquid). The methods operate without using plastic shaping processes and include the following procedure steps:
Etching Method:
a. formation of fluid duct structures on the. metal surfaces located on the substrate by means of a photoresist layer or a screen-printed varnish layer, so that the metal surfaces are partly covered by the layer;
b. at least partly electroless and/or electrochemical etching-off of metal from the exposed surfaces of the substrate;
c. total removal of the photoresist layer or screen-printed varnish layer;
d. formation of adhesive and/or solder layers;
e. superimposing of the substrates and a closure segment closing the fluid ducts, and interconnecting the substrates and of the closure segment by gluing and/or soldering.
Reversal Method:
a. formation of fluid duct structures on metal surfaces located on the substrate by means of a photoresist layer or a screen-printed varnish layer, so that the metal surfaces are partly covered by the layer;
b. electroless and/or electrochemical deposition of a metal layer on the exposed surfaces of the substrate;
c. total removal of the photoresist layer or screen-printed varnish layer;
d. at least partial electroless and/or electrochemical etching-off of the metal from the substrate, forming fluid ducts;
e. formation of adhesive and/or solder layers;
f. superimposing of the substrates and a closure segment closing the fluid ducts, and interconnecting of the substrates and the closing segment by gluing and/or soldering.
Additive Method:
a. formation of fluid duct structures on the substrate by means of a photoresist layer or a screen-printed varnish layer, so that the substrate surfaces are partially covered by the layer;
b. deposition of a metal layer on the exposed surfaces of the substrate;
c. total removal of the photoresist layer or screen-printed varnish layer;
d. formation of adhesive and/or solder layers;
e. superimposing of the substrates and a closure segment closing the fluid ducts and interconnecting the substrates and the closure segment by gluing and/or soldering.
The chemical microreactors according to the invention have the following features:
a. fluid ducts in at least one plane;
b. feed (inlet) and return (outlet) lines for fluids;
c. the fluid ducts are defined by side walls of metal facing one another and by further side walls of metal or plastic extending between these side walls;
d. different planes of fluid ducts are interconnected and/or connected with a closure segment closing open fluid ducts, by means of appropriate layers of solder and/or adhesive.
An advatagerus use of the chemical microreactors is indicated in claim 20.
According to this the chemical microreactors are suitable for manufacturing toxic, unstable or explosive chemical products, particularly of cyanogen chloride, phosgene, ethylene oxide, selenium compounds, mercaptanes, methyl chloride, methyl iodide, dimethyl sulphate, vinyl chloride and phosphines.
Advantagerus aspects of the invention are indicated in the dependent claims.
By using industrial electrolytic methods for manufacturing the individual reactor planes, an extremely flexible adaptation to the respective case of application is possible by means of the selection of appropriate combinations of materials for the planes.
In addition, the opportunity of integrating the connection of the structured reactor planes into an overall process is also afforded, in order to be able to produce stacked reactors. There is no application of diffusion welding process representing a high heat brad for the reactor members as with the use of copper foils or anodic bouding process as with the use of silicon wafers. Rather, the individual reactor planes are connected together by soldering or gluing. In this way individual planes of the microreactor can be joined into stacks already with medium heat load on the substrates, so that temperaturesensitive substrates as well as temperature-sensitive reactor elements already integrated before joining, for example semiconductor circuits or swellable gels for forming actors, can be used. The soldering temperature can also be reduced to small values by the selection of specific solders, or the strength of the stack can be set at high values by the selection of specific hard solders. By selecting low meeting points solders or by means of gluing it is possible to prepare even temperature-sensitive substrate surfaces for use in the chemical synthesis before joining of the reactor planes.
The inner surface of the reactor according to the invention can still be chemically or structurally altered even after combination, and thus can be optimized in accordance with the requirements of the specific chemical process. In addition to the metal layers, furthermore it is also possible to integrate any plastic layers into the reactor, as composite materials of metals with plastics are available almost unlimited. Thus the materials used can be adapted to the specific requirements of the respective case of application.
The fabricable ducts can be manufactured in an extremely uniform manner. The formation of burrs as occurs with mechanical scribing copper foils and tool wear do not occur. The dimensions of the fluid ducts are preferably in the range of 1 millimeter or less. For example, fluid ducts with an approximately rectangular cross-section can be produced even with a width of 100 xcexcm and a height of 40 xcexcm. In particularly preferred embodiments of the invention, the fluid ducts have structural heights of 300 xcexcm and less. Where the cross section of the ducts is not rectangular, the width dimensions are intended to relate to width dimensions measured at half the height of the ducts. For example, ducts with an approximately semicircular concave cross section can also be produced.
A further substantial advantage resides in that all the reactor planes may be produced simultaneously. It is not necessary to sequentially pass through the individual process stages. As the individual duct planes or modules can be substantially produced simultaneously, the entire reactor can be produced with less tolerances. In addition, a high degree of reproducibility of the basic structures is enabled.
The reactors produced are inexpensive, as no excessively complex devices are necessary for the manufacturing process. The resist structures formed in the LIGA process have in fact an extreme edge steepness and a very high aspect ratio. While these properties are essential for the production of micromechanical components for which this method was originally developed, they are not necessary for the manufacture of chemical microreactors. By avoiding the expensive synchrotron radiation or the expensive UV laser devices and the expensive masks required thereto, structures can be produced photolithographically or even by means of screen-printing, by means of which the requirements of the average dimensions in microreactors are satisfied.
Compared with the heat exchangers or the manufacturing process described in EP 0 212 878 A1 and EP 0 292 245 A1, the reactors and the manufacturing process according to the invention have the advantage that temperaturesensitive materials can be used, as the diffusion bonding process is not used. In particular, semiconductor circuits, fiber optic wave guides, actors and sensors as well as temperature-sensitive coatings can already be integrated into the reactor before its combination. This leads to a substantial expansion of the possible field of application and simplification with the design and fabrication strategy for the reactors.
For the reasons mentioned above, the method according to the invention may be used with extraordinary flexibility. The individual members can be manufactured in large numbers, cost-effectively and with a high degree of dimensional accuracy.
By chemical microreactors are to be understood devices with fluid ducts from at least one reactor layer, which also have auxiliary zones serving for mixing, metering, heating, cooling or analysing the initial materials, the intermediate products or the end products in addition to the actual reaction zones, if necessary. Each zone is characterized by a structure adapted to the respective requirements. Whilst heating and cooling zones are designed either as heat exchangers or as reactor compartments equipped with electrical resistive heating systems and electrical cooling elements, respectibely, and analysis zones have adapted sensors, metering zones contain microvalves and mixing zones, for example, such as ducts with appropriately shaped inserts for swirling the combined fluids. The structure of the microreactors according to the invention can also be designed for specific cases of application in such a way that only heat is transported from or to the fluidic medium, for example in that heat is exchanged between the medium to be heated or cooled and another heating or cooling medium. The fluid ducts in the individual reactor layers are generally closed by stacking a plurality of layers on top of the others, and by closing the last layer with a closure segment.
Various substrates can be used to manufacture the microreactors: on the one hand, metal foils are suitable for this, for example steel, stainless steel, copper, nickel or aluminium foils. The thickness thereof should be within a range of 5 xcexcm to 1 mm. Foils with a thickness of less than 5 xcexcm are less suitable, as therein ducts with a sufficient width cannot be formed. If a pure metal foil is used as a substrate, then in the case of such low metal layer thicknesses there arises the further problem that these foils now only are extremely difficult to handle. On the other hand foils with a thickness of more than 1 mm would lead to a thick reactor stack.
In addition, plastics, ceramics or glass films metal coated on one or both sides may also be used as a substrate. For example, epoxy resin or polyimide laminates lined with copper foils are suitable. An opportunity of producing the plastic foils coated with metal also resides in the fact to metallizeing them by known chemical methods. F or this purpose firstly a surface treatment by means of chemical or physical methods has to be provided with the foil, being roughened for example in etching solutions or by means of a plasma discharge using appropriate gases. Thereupon, after an appropriate further pre-treatment, such as cleaning, conditioning and activation, the plastic films are metallized with an electroless and/or electrochemical method. The strength of the plastic layer, particularly of epoxy resin, is frequently increased by embedding glass fibre or aramide fabrics. Another possibility resides in pressing plastic s and metal foils together under pressure and temperature effects (lamination).
Other chemically resistant materials are among others polytetrafluor-ethylene or other halogenated polyalkanes. Such chemically resistant materials can for example be activated by plasma-enhanced chemical gas phase (vapor) deposition (PECVD). For example securely-adhering nickel-phosphorus or copper layers can be formed by electroless metal deposition on such activated surfaces. Securely adhering coating glass or ceramic materials is also directly possible according to known methods, for example by alkaline etching before activation and electroless metallization. By means of coating the chemically resistant plastics with metals, these materials can more simply be connected together in a securely adhering manner. Such a composite of polytetrafluorethylene films is not directly possible with laminates being not metallized.
Various methods can be used to form the fluid ducts. In one procedure substrates coated all-over with a metal such as copper are taken as starting point. The methods being suitable for this purpose to form the ducts have been previously shown diagramatically. According to another process variant, the fluid ducts may also be generated by additive build-up of the metal layers exclusively in the areas on the substrates which do not correspond to the duct structures. The methods according to the invention are likewise available for this purpose.
In order to obtain sufficiently deep fluid duct structures, the thickness of the metal layer to be etched off or deposited must be sufficiently thick. As there are frequently problems with uniform production of thick metal layers, particularly on large-area substrates, small substrate blanks are preferably used, upon which the ducts are formed.
To form the fluid ducts by the etching method, the resist layer (screen-printed or photoresist layer) is applied on the substrate surfaces such that the surface areas forming the fluid ducts are not covered by the resist layer.
For an additive production of the fluid ducts, it is also possible to start with films being not coated with metals. In this case firstly a screen printed layer or a photoresist layer is applied to the foils surfaces in such a way that the surface areas corresponding to the fluid ducts are covered by the resist. The same also applies in the case of the reversal method. In order to enable electroless metal deposition when the additive technique is used, the film surfaces must first be subjected to a pretreatment in an appropriate way. For this purpose the same methods are used as for the all-over metallization of the foils. Thereupon the metal structures can be deposited in the exposed areas of the photoresist layer on the foil surfaces. For example, the typical methods from printed circuit technology can be used. In this respect express reference is made to the details relevant to this matter in the xe2x80x9cHandbuch der Leiterplattentechnikxe2x80x9d Volume III, ed. G. Herrmann, pages 61 to 119, 1993, Eugen G. Leuze Verlag, Saulgau, DE. The details on process technology contained therein are also usable herein and are hereby incorporated. After metal deposition, the photoresist layer is totally removed.
Liquids and gases are processed as fluids in the finished microreactors.